key point here is the energy dependance on russia. they get one-third of their national gas from russia. if they impose any economic sanctions, they face serious retribution from russia. and the bigger question here, julia, is does russia even respond to the threat of economic sanctions? if you go back to russia invading georgia back in 2008, the west threatened sanctions, but putin very much deflengted that agitation from the west. in the end he got what he wanted. that was the an exation of two regions in georgia and that could suggest he's going to go with the same strategy this time around. having said that, one thing is a little different from back in 2008 and that is oil prices have been trading at a $30 premium, a discount, rather, than writ was in 2008. also, the economic fundamental res very weak, russia potentially sliding into a recession later on this year. and we saw significant weakening of the ruble against the euro and the dollar. so maybe, maybe the eu does have a greater economic leverage than it thinks. back over to